Plain Dealer | January 26, 1999
Olympic leaders fail the test
By Betsy Mitchell
I am embarrassed. I am shamed. I am an Olympian. The recent bribery scandal — which escalated from decades of rumors to tangible evidence of wrongdoing by International Olympic Committee members — is the final straw. I will not lose my conviction in the positive, important role sports plays in the lives of young people, but my disillusionment with the Olympic movement is complete.
After 12 years of intense training, devotion to a tight schedule, and rearranging much of my school and family life, I made the 1984 Olympic team in swimming. At 18, I was proud to be representing my country in international competition in Los Angeles. Two years later, I set a world record. Four years later, I returned to the Olympics and won another medal.
Achieving these personal goals means more than a few words ever could describe. I was most proud of earning my USA sweat suit, climbing up on the awards podium, and realizing that the medals won and the records met were not just mine, but my country’s as well. Representing this country is an important responsibility and honor. It is one that I continue to take seriously.
Sadly, those memories are of a drastically different era in American and international sports. Maybe they are so positive and sweet because I was a swimmer, not involved in semi-professional or professional sports. Maybe the experience was truly amateur, born out of love of the sport and its challenges, not driven by the lure of money or fame or self-importance. Maybe the world just changed a lot in my short career.
In the late 1980s, the Olympic movement was scarred by widespread findings of medal-winning athletes testing positive for performance-enhancing substances. Additional horror stories of “recreational” drug abuse by high-profile athletes has cast an increasingly sad shadow over one of the most wonderful images and benefits of sports; the healthy shrine of an athletic body. Sadly, I now believe that for each gold medalist who was caught, many more athletes surely used.
The 1980s also saw an increase in “money for medals” programs created by the Olympic Committee and national governing bodies. The competitive creed and value of sportsmanship that I hold so dear was replaced by the nationalistic need for political domination.
In the last three Olympiads, the increase in the number of professional athletes participating in the Olympic games has devalued the meaning I experienced and expect from the Olympic movement. There is a fundamental difference between professional and amateur. In the most naive sense the professional is motivated primarily by money, the amateur by love. Or so I thought. Another brick was removed from the wall of honor, the esteem I previously had held for the Olympics.
And now, Olympic leaders, members of the IOC who should be the standard-bearers, also have let me down. Is bribery cheating? Isn’t expecting money for votes the same thing as taking steroids to get stronger? Why is it too much to ask for leaders to practice what they preach? Why is it too difficult for leaders to behave consistently with the policies they write and espouse? Why does the spotlight produce in some a self-importance that leads to the demise of something so special to money?
I am not perfect.I do not think that my personal Olympic status makes me more important than any other person, but it is part of a history and tradition that bring certain expectations and obligations on my character. Drugs, money and power are not those obligations; fairness, honesty and respect are.
We must not let go of the though that ideals, values and standards mean something and that we need them to endure over time. I know we can’t go back to the turn of the last century, nor in many respects would I want to.
But looking into the next century, I wouldn’t mind a clean Olympic slate; one where love of the sport (not the reward) and a balanced perspective could right the wrongs of recent Olympic history.
***
Olympic Leaders Fail the Test (Plain Dealer)
Sanya| January 26, 1999| Publications+Commentary
Plain Dealer | January 26, 1999
Olympic leaders fail the test
By Betsy Mitchell
I am embarrassed. I am shamed. I am an Olympian. The recent bribery scandal — which escalated from decades of rumors to tangible evidence of wrongdoing by International Olympic Committee members — is the final straw. I will not lose my conviction in the positive, important role sports plays in the lives of young people, but my disillusionment with the Olympic movement is complete.
After 12 years of intense training, devotion to a tight schedule, and rearranging much of my school and family life, I made the 1984 Olympic team in swimming. At 18, I was proud to be representing my country in international competition in Los Angeles. Two years later, I set a world record. Four years later, I returned to the Olympics and won another medal.
Achieving these personal goals means more than a few words ever could describe. I was most proud of earning my USA sweat suit, climbing up on the awards podium, and realizing that the medals won and the records met were not just mine, but my country’s as well. Representing this country is an important responsibility and honor. It is one that I continue to take seriously.
Sadly, those memories are of a drastically different era in American and international sports. Maybe they are so positive and sweet because I was a swimmer, not involved in semi-professional or professional sports. Maybe the experience was truly amateur, born out of love of the sport and its challenges, not driven by the lure of money or fame or self-importance. Maybe the world just changed a lot in my short career.
In the late 1980s, the Olympic movement was scarred by widespread findings of medal-winning athletes testing positive for performance-enhancing substances. Additional horror stories of “recreational” drug abuse by high-profile athletes has cast an increasingly sad shadow over one of the most wonderful images and benefits of sports; the healthy shrine of an athletic body. Sadly, I now believe that for each gold medalist who was caught, many more athletes surely used.
The 1980s also saw an increase in “money for medals” programs created by the Olympic Committee and national governing bodies. The competitive creed and value of sportsmanship that I hold so dear was replaced by the nationalistic need for political domination.
In the last three Olympiads, the increase in the number of professional athletes participating in the Olympic games has devalued the meaning I experienced and expect from the Olympic movement. There is a fundamental difference between professional and amateur. In the most naive sense the professional is motivated primarily by money, the amateur by love. Or so I thought. Another brick was removed from the wall of honor, the esteem I previously had held for the Olympics.
And now, Olympic leaders, members of the IOC who should be the standard-bearers, also have let me down. Is bribery cheating? Isn’t expecting money for votes the same thing as taking steroids to get stronger? Why is it too much to ask for leaders to practice what they preach? Why is it too difficult for leaders to behave consistently with the policies they write and espouse? Why does the spotlight produce in some a self-importance that leads to the demise of something so special to money?
I am not perfect.I do not think that my personal Olympic status makes me more important than any other person, but it is part of a history and tradition that bring certain expectations and obligations on my character. Drugs, money and power are not those obligations; fairness, honesty and respect are.
We must not let go of the though that ideals, values and standards mean something and that we need them to endure over time. I know we can’t go back to the turn of the last century, nor in many respects would I want to.
But looking into the next century, I wouldn’t mind a clean Olympic slate; one where love of the sport (not the reward) and a balanced perspective could right the wrongs of recent Olympic history.
***
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